In the second half of the 19th century, Japan opened up to the West and thanks to explorers such as Guimet, Duret, Cernuschi or Bing, art objects and engravings started to flow into Europe and the United States. Through a first-person narrative based on the writings of gallery owners, critics, collectors and painters of the period, the film recounts the major events of this wave of Japonism in the arts. It reveals also the relations between Japanese art and some of the outstanding Western works of art as the famous Claude Monet.